Naomi Watts to paralyse face to play Princess Diana

WE’RE not quite sure if this is the strangest acting technique we’ve heard of but it certainly comes close.

Naomi Watts says she had to paralyse the right-side of her face to play Princess Diana in a new biopic. The 44-year-old actress was so determined to perfect the late Princess of Wales’ mannerisms that she changed the way her mouth moved.

“I didn’t just want to appear like her, it’s also about the tone of her voice and the way she moved her face,” Naomi explains.

“It’s completely the opposite of how I move my face. I move my face on the right-hand side and she moved hers on the left. I had to walk around with a cocktail stick in my mouth to paralyse the right-hand side of my face for weeks,” she tells Empire magazine.

The Aussie star admits she didn’t initially jump at the chance to play Diana because the Princess was such an iconic figure.

I didn’t just want to appear like her, it’s also about the tone of her voice and the way she moved her face

Naomi Watts

“There’s a lot more pressure and a lot more fear that comes with that pressure,” she says.

“I wrestled with the decision of actually doing it because of that. I was afraid of all the comparisons that people would make: not the right nose, not tall enough, not the right voice.”